Ustel: If you are looking for hypocrisy on Cyprus, you know where to find it

Turkish Cypriot ‘prime minister’ Unal Ustel on Thursday lambasted President Nikos Christodoulides’ speech at the United Nations general assembly and the accusation of “hypocrisy” he had levelled at Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan during it, saying that “if you are looking for hypocrisy on Cyprus, you know where to find it”. “I strongly condemn the remarks made by the leader of the Greek Cypriot administration in southern Cyprus, Nikos Christodoulides, against the president of the Republic of Turkey, the motherland, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, from the United Nations rostrum,” he said. He added that hypocrisy on the Cyprus problem “lies with the Greek Cypriot leadership and those who applaud it unconditionally”. “If there is an occupation in Cyprus, it is the act of the Greek Cypriots usurping the 1960 republic and excluding the Turkish Cypriot people from their own joint state. If there is lawlessness in Cyprus, it consists of the inhumane embargoes and isolation imposed on the Turkish Cypriot people for years,” he said. Related Articles • Christodoulides calls out Erdogan’s ‘highest form’ of hypocrisy • Erdogan: Turkish Cypriots’ equal international status must be recognised • Erdogan tells Burnham of need for ‘equal international status’ for Turkish Cypriots • UN ‘continuing its efforts’ on Cyprus problem, Holguin says • Guterres, Erdogan ‘exchange views’ on Cyprus problem • Christodoulides hints at ‘behind-the-scenes’ meetings to make Cyprus problem progress He added, “if there is oppression in Cyprus, it is found in the massacres, attacks, and forced displacements inflicted upon the Turkish Cypriot people between 1963 and 1974”, and that “if there is peace and security in Cyprus today, it is thanks to the presence and security provided by the Turkish soldiers they slander as ‘occupiers’”. “Christodoulides and his circle must now clearly understand this. No matter whose support they enlist, they will not be able to alter the realities of Cyprus. The Turkish Cypriot people will continue to walk their own path with determination and their own free will, backed by the strong support of their motherland, Turkey,” he said. “The Turkish Cypriot people exist, they are sovereign, and they will never allow others to decide their future.” Christodoulides accused Erdogan of ‘hypocrisy of the highest form’ Christodoulides had on Wednesday accused Erdogan of “hypocrisy of the highest form”, saying that Erdogan had in his own speech made “references to international law, to the respect for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of all states, to illegal occupation, to the drama of refugees”. “Yet, in relation to Cyprus, Turkey is doing exactly the opposite. Hypocrisy of the highest form,” he said. He added that during his speech on Tuesday, Erdogan had “quoted extensively from the UN charter”, but stressed that “politicians are judged not by their words, but their deeds.” “Mr Erdogan, if you want to quote from the charter, you must first apply it. The UN security council has established the framework for the settlement of the Cyprus problem. That framework, of a bizonal, bicommunal federation with political equality, remains the only basis on which a comprehensive settlement must be reached,” he said. A day prior, Erdogan had said that the “sovereign equality and equal international status of the Turkish Cypriot people” must be recognised. “I call upon the international community to recognise and establish political, diplomatic, and economic relations with the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus,” he said, before adding that “the inhumane isolation to which [the Turkish Cypriots] have been subjected must finally come to an end”. Turkish Cypriot leader Tufan Erhurman is expected to commence his contacts in New York overnight, with Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis also set to give his address to the general assembly late on Thursday night.